Goten dragged his pain-filled body to his brother's desk, hissing and wincing as he did so. Somehow getting around the big wooden obstacle, he managed to pull himself into the chair using the seat and the desk top. Good lord that woman could hurt someone. Two backbreaking hugs in less than ten minutes and Goten was wondering if he should go to the emergency room. Broken bones were serious injures after all.

Letting out a groan, the young Son boy leaned back into the chair, staring out across the disarrayed desk. Huh, he never really noticed how messy it was. Looking at it all, it was almost daunting. Had they really gone through all of this stuff since he got here? Letting his eyes wander, Goten went from one place to the next until he found a small little book with a piece of paper next to it. From what he could make of it, the paper had random numbers and letters on it while the book had the familiar content of a calendar. A closer look told him that the letters and numbers originally came from the datebook. Huh, he hadn't seen this yet.

Leaning forward, Goten flipped through a few pages, finding the strange letters everywhere, the numbers soon being realized as times. Where had Gohan gotten this, he wondered.

Setting the book down, he sighed, looking down on the desk again. Gohan was probably working on it himself so it wasn't something he needed to worry about. Puzzles weren't exactly his forte. Looking beneath the book, it was then the younger Son noticed the large desk calendar. That piqued the young man's curiosity. What had his brother been up to the last few months?

Clearing the calendar so he could see it better, Goten was soon disappointed to find that his brother barely did anything. There were a few things scrawled on the calendar, but not much else. Did Gohan really not do anything but work? Boring!

Eyeing one day that said DEADLINE Noon, he swept his eyes to another day. While he loved his brother greatly, there were times he couldn't help but think how dull he was. There wasn't anything remotely looking like a social occasion anywhere on this thing. Well, except that brief mention of a tavern around 10—no wait, the ten was scratched out for an 11—at night.

Goten had to do a double take on that. Gohan went to a tavern? Huh, he had no idea the guy drank. Then again, Gohan always made it a point to not drink around him. So maybe there was more to him than he thought.

Looking to the day, Goten noted it was a couple weeks ago; right around the time Gohan said he had been accused of murder. Tapping his fingers on the datebook, the young man wondered if there was anything around that time listed in the book. Opening it, he quickly flipped the pages until he found the page he was looking for, finding SS DT 10 on the same day. Frowning, Goten looked from the datebook to the large calendar and back. Though the 10 was crossed out on the calendar, it meant that Gohan was planning to be somewhere at that time of night. While the calendar mentioned a tavern, Goten wasn't sure if the T part of DT was the same as well. Maybe it was a coincidence.

Maybe.

Gohan hurried into the hallway, part of him dreading the sight he would see. That high pitched squeal had come out of nowhere and he half expected someone was being attacked. That thought was put to a quick death when he saw Erasa's mother hugging his lawyer, the dark-haired woman doing her best impression of a pretzel. Huh, never knew that girl was so flexible.

And as sudden as it had happened, Mrs. Rubba put Videl back on the ground, the woman collapse to the ground instantly. "Oh dear, taking a nap on the floor again? Shouldn't you at least wait until you get back to your home before you go to sleep?"

"Just…catching…my breath," Videl said weakly, her face pressed into the floor as if she were trying to hide herself in it. Her efforts were in vain since Mrs. Rubba was standing next to her.

"So what are you doing here, Videl?" the blonde woman asked pleasantly, looking down on the crippled girl.

Slowly, Videl pushed herself up, her arms reaching out to gather her briefcase and folders. "I'm here to see a client."

"Really? Good for you! I know who ever you're helping is getting the best lawyer ever!"

It was then that Videl looked up and saw Gohan staring at them. Almost immediately her eyes were glaring daggers at him, something that made the young man quite uncomfortable. "Well, it is my job to do represent my client to the best of my abilities, whether they're guilty or not."

"And I'm sure who ever you represent is innocent!"

Gohan couldn't help but wince at that. Though he wholeheartedly agreed with Mrs. Rubba, trying to convince the Satan woman about that was tantamount to climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Sure, a few people had accomplished such a feat, but there was a reason why that number was a few instead of a lot.

"Only time will tell on that," Videl responded, her tone very doubtful. "I best be on my way."

"Sure thing!" As the Satan woman walked passed her, Mrs. Rubba turning her head to watch her go, it was then that she caught sight of Gohan. "Oh Videl! Before you go I absolutely have to introduce you to someone!" Instantly, the older woman was next to the girl, a hand on her back and pushing her towards Gohan. "This is Mr. Gohan! He's helping me find out who killed Er…Era…."

If it was any other time, Gohan would have felt bad for the woman as she slowly broke down again. It was just this time he had a seething woman in front of him that would have rather flayed his skin and remove his entrails with a red-hot poker.

"Oh, we've met," Videl replied chillingly. "In fact, he's—"

"We're working the case together," Gohan interrupted, backing away to open his office door wider. It was best that Mrs. Rubba was kept in the dark about his legal troubles.

Videl glared at him, but said no more. She obviously wasn't in the mood to argue at the moment, something that relieved Gohan slightly, but that was all. Bidding Mrs. Rubba a good day, he slipped back into the office and found Videl and Goten having a stare down.

"Uhh, Gohan?" Goten spoke up. "Who is this?"

"My question exactly," Videl added.

"Oh, Goten, meet Vi—" Gohan paused at that. Perhaps it would be best to refrain from calling Videl by her first name, at least until he got back on her good side, though it was anyone's guess when that would happen. "Ms. Satan, I mean. She will be representing me when my case goes to trial. Ms. Satan, this is Goten, my little brother. He's going to help me with a few things—"

"It's nice to meet you," Videl spoke as she moved to the desk, glancing at its messiness before setting her things on it.

"Same here," Goten murmured, looking dubious at her.

Well, this was starting to get awkward. "Hey Goten, how about you start on that job I gave you?"

Goten looked to him and nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you later." Picking up the folder of the man he was supposed to look into, the younger Son left the office, closing the door behind him.

"So what's that about?" Videl asked him.

"He's just looking into a few things concerning the case," Gohan told her as he moved around his desk, sitting down in his chair. "So what brings you here?"

"As much as it pains me to be here, we still have a case to prepare for."

Gohan leaned back into his chair. "And what do you need to prepare me for?"

"Well, I need to know everything you did the night of Erasa's murder," the woman replied, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen. "The real story if you mind."

The detective stared at her. "But I told you I was at—"

"The Westingham Manor, I know," Videl interrupted. "But according to that blood shirt, that alibi of yours doesn't hold up."

"Not even with the words of the Westinghams backing it?"

"Listen pal," the woman said through gritted teeth. "You and I both know that BS story you had me running after isn't true. How you convinced the Westinghams to follow that story is beyond me, but as of now I consider them useless unless you can convince me that they're somehow relevant to all this. And just so you know, I highly doubt you can."

The young man stared at her for a moment before shaking his head and turning his attention away. "I have other things that require my attention, Ms. Satan, like trying to figure out what happened the night Ms. Rubba died. You're preparations are going to have to wait."

"Look here, I have a job to do and it'll be much easier to do if you cooperate."

"And I also have a job and in order for me to do it, I have to put all my focus on it. I'm sorry if that inconveniences you."

"We both know you're guilty. So instead of claiming that you're innocent and expecting everything to be alright—which is a very flimsy position by the way—we need to actually prepare a defense that will convince the jury that you had no involvement with this murder."

It was quiet for a few moments before Gohan replied "For someone that thinks they've found their murderer, you're sure going through a lot to make sure said murderer doesn't go to jail."

Videl leveled a stony glare. "Like I told you before, I'm here to represent you to the best of my abilities, including fighting to get you off of your deserved punishment. That's the price I have to pay in order to confirm your guilt."

"But you could recues yourself of this case," Gohan retorted. "The moment you discovered the proof you needed of my guilt, you could have dropped the case and never looked back. So why are you still here?"

That seemed to catch Videl off guard as she fell silent, asking herself that very question in her mind. Though Gohan was tempted to let her sort her reasons out, he had more pressing matters he needed to attend to. "What ever your reason is for staying, I hope it's a good one—for your sake. In the meantime, I need to follow a lead. If you're going to insist on doing your work, do the stuff that doesn't require me."

Almost immediately the Satan woman's eyes sharpened, honing in on him. "What kind of lead?"

Gohan hesitated for a moment, glancing to the TV and deciding it couldn't hurt. Turning the screen on, he quickly found the moment on the security tape where Erasa's arms were clearly visible. Pausing at that moment, he then dug through the mess on his desk until he found the photo of Erasa's body, her bracelet-covered arm being visible this time. "What do you see in these shots?" he asked her, handing the photo to Videl.

Looking between them, it took Videl a few seconds to find the discrepancy. "Erasa's wearing a bracelet here, but not in the tavern," she said, confusion written on her face. "But how? What does this mean?"

"It means that it's possible that Ms. Rubba wasn't killed in the alley, but most likely somewhere else. Her body was then brought to the alley and left there."

Videl stared at him. "Why dump a body in a public place though? Wouldn't the killer try and hide the body, or even destroy it to keep the murder a secret?"

"The normal person would," Gohan conceded, "but imagine it from the perspective of a killer—someone that isn't afraid of someone finding their handiwork. Those sorts of people are proud of their killing and some of them aren't afraid to display their victims. They may even be confident enough to believe that no one would ever figure out that they were responsible."

He received a raised eyebrow as a response. "And what kind of people would think that way?"

"Well, you have enforcers for gangs that would do that. If no one sees their work, their message—what ever it may be—isn't taken as seriously as one with a bloody example attached to it. Then you may have a serial killer—"

"Wait, wait," Videl interrupted him, her head bowed a bit with her eyes closed tightly, as if she were suffering from a headache. One of her hands was waving in front of her, a sign she wanted him to stop talking. When her eyes opened and focused on him, she said "Are you saying that a serial killer may have killed Erasa?" She snorted then. "Sorry if I find that hard to believe."

"I said it's possible, not that it was what happened," Gohan retorted. "But you're right, in this case it's doubtful. It's more likely her death had something to do with her work."

"Her work?"

Okay, this woman was thinking slower than she usually did. Either she really hadn't given much thought into her friend's death or he was so far ahead of her that she couldn't catch up. "Yes, she was a journalist, as I'm sure you already know. She's done some high-profile stories too, also something you should know." Gohan paused to take a deep breath. "And I think that the story she was last on was what got her killed."

It was quiet in the room until Videl narrowed her eyes at him, one of her hands balled into a shaking fist. "That sounds too convenient. It doesn't at all explain how you're involved with this. Your shirt has her blood on it."

"Convenient, but very likely." Gohan leaned back into his chair. "I know you don't trust me at all, Ms. Satan, but I know I'm on the right track here. I'd love to go even further into it with you, but I'm getting pressed for time. If you want to hear more, you can come with me, or you can stay here and do what ever work you need to do. The choice is yours."

Getting out of his chair, Gohan went to grab his coat and made his way to the door. As he opened it and moved through it, he felt Videl's presence behind him, walking through the doorway as he turned to close the door behind him. After locking it, the two of them made their way out of the building, where Videl directed them in a different direction than Gohan had planned. "I can drive us to where you want to go," she said, making her way towards her car.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he followed her and climbed into her car when they reached it. They were soon on their way when she finally asked "So where are we going?"

"Corner of 15th and Chestnut Avenue," Gohan directed.

Altering their course in that direction, the woman then asked "So what's this theory of yours?"

Gohan stared out the windshield, his eyes flicking to the side mirror and then back. "Erasa was at your father's tavern to meet a source on her story—the man in the trench coat being the source. When they left, they either parted company or went to confirm what ever that man had told her. Along the way, Erasa obtained that piece of jewelry she was found wearing and died shortly after."

"And you have proof of this?"

"You already saw the pictures, the one with the bracelet and the one without. And thanks to Mrs. Rubba, I know that Erasa was going to the Devil's Tavern to meet with a source of hers. The meeting was obviously set before she appeared in the security feed and the source was covering himself."

Videl flicked her eyes over to him, then back to the road. "What happened to her flirting with the guy? That was obvious in the security feed. Wasn't she supposed to have picked him up in the tavern?"

Gohan shrugged. "Maybe their meeting ended early and the two of them decided to kick back. I really don't know. For all I know, she could have just felt like flirting."

Videl made a sharp turn then, causing Gohan to press up against the door. "How are you coming up to this conclusion? Weren't you claiming that the man Erasa met up with was her killer? What made you change your mind?"

"As I said, I found out she was meeting a source at the tavern."

"And where did you find this out?"

"From her datebook."

Videl's eyes narrowed. "And how did you get a hold of Erasa's datebook?"

"I went to her apartment."

Videl's head snapped towards him, staring at him for several moments until Gohan began crying out "Car. Car! CAR!"

Whipping her head back, she slammed on the breaks, causing their car to let out a shrill shriek as it skidded towards the back of a stopped car. Somehow, the car managed to come to a stop mere inches from a bad crash, leaving both of the car's occupants letting out sighs of relief.

Once traffic began to move, Videl immediately pulled the car into an open side parking spot, putting the car in park and turning to face Gohan down. "You were the one in Erasa's apartment!" she accused.

Gohan stared at her. "You almost got us in a wreck to say that?"

"Is it or isn't it true?"

Swallowing, Gohan answered "I was in Erasa's apartment, yes. But…how do you know?"

"You closed one of the blinds. Erasa never closes just one blind." She paused to harden her glare at him. "And you better give back that datebook."

"It's on my desk," Gohan answered quickly. "You can have it when we get back."

"Damn right I will," she growled as she shifted the car back to drive and pulled the car back onto the street. "How did you even get into the apartment?"

"Front desk gave me the key. Don't worry, I gave it back."

It was silent for a moment, but when Videl spoke, she said "Don't ever go back there. If you do, I will skin you alive and use your skin as a winter coat. Understand?"

"Understood."

To Gabby: The positive reaction I've gotten so far would suggest that. Gotta keep that feeling going.